Image: Simon Makker.

Former MX2 world champion Ben Townley and the Greatest of all Time (GOAT) Ricky Carmichael will go head-to-head at the 2019 Monster Energy S-X Open Auckland in New Zealand on 16 November, which will make up round one of the S-X Open International FIM Oceania Supercross Championship and round four of the Australian Supercross Championship.

Townley and Carmichael will line-up against each other at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium in what will be the first time the pair have raced side-by-side since 2007.

New Zealand native Townley is proud to be a part of the event for the second year in a row, and believes the high standard of last year’s race is the reason why the best international calibre riders in the world are attending.

“I’ve had plenty of battles with RC back in the day when I based myself out of his training facility in the US in 2006 and ‘07,” Townley explained. “Ricky never let any cameras in the ‘GOAT Farm’ back then and was always so secretive about the place, truth be told he just didn’t want anyone to know how much I was beating him by in his own backyard!.

“It’s going to be awesome to battle head-to-head against Ricky again and it’s a massive win for Kiwi sports fans that the GOAT is coming to New Zealand to put on a show for us at Mt Smart Stadium on 16 November. He might be an old boy now but Ricky still has plenty of tricks in the bag so I’ll be training hard to ensure I take home the trophy for the ANZACs again.”

Carmichael will head to New Zealand for the first time ever to take on his old training partner Townley, on his home turf, and claims he is pumped to be racing in front of the passionate Kiwi fans for the first time.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be racing in Auckland this 16 November, it will be my first time ever racing there, and I’m excited to put on an epic show for the fans at Mt Smart Stadium,” said Carmichael.

“BT and I have raced together many times before, and he’s always been a tough guy to beat, and it’s been a long time since we’ve gone bar-to-bar,” said Carmichael. “We raced plenty back in the day at the GOAT Farm, he was easy to beat then, and I reckon he’s gonna be easy to beat now, so I think I’m going to have to beat him in front of his home crowd in Auckland on 16 November.”

With more rider announcements to come, the pair join the already confirmed defending S-X Open champion Chad Reed (KGRMX Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing) and 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross champion Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing).

The announcement of Townley and Carmichael comes as pre-sale to this year’s S-X Open Auckland kicks off today at 12pm NZST exclusively for S-X Open database and Ticketmaster NZ subscribers, with tickets officially on-sale to the public at 12pm NZST Wednesday, 26 June. For more information, visit www.sxopen.com.